Cafe Latte
by LazyBee
Summary: "Sweet yet bitter, these feelings are a café latte, dancing in the cup."
1. Hot Cocoa

**Author's Note:** Is this an April Fool's joke? LazyBee back with a new story? Well, after taking a long, long break from writing and somewhat straying from the Vocaloid fandom, too, and returning to see that there is a total of only 6 IaxYukari fanfics which is not enough, I've decided that I needed to remedy the situation. So, yeah. JUST TAKE IT FROM ME.

Based off of IA's Café Latte (made by void, NND code is sm16801489), though that's gonna be more apparent in chapter 2.

(Also my writing has basically gone to crap yet I still kinda feel like I wanna finish TBoY since I haven't even gotten to the good parts yet, so I'm hoping this'll ease me back into the flow of things…

And Sharing Beds is still getting a lot of views [by my standards, heh][and I have no idea why, either] so I should… probably add a new chapter there, too?

And some feedback would be nice, if my writing's changed for better or for worse… Especially since it's my first time writing these characters and shoujo-ai. I almost literally have no idea what I'm doing here.)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, except the writing itself.

* * *

In a big city with busy avenues and scenic boulevards, where all the popular coffee shops and fancy teahouses compete to attract customers, it takes a miracle to find the special spots hiding in the little winding alleys.

For Ia, getting caught in a sudden May storm without an umbrella while being lost in an unknown part of the city was definitely an unlucky continuation to an already miserable day and felt far from miraculous.

"What am I supposed to do now?" she muttered to herself gloomily. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, drenched from head to toe. _Maybe I should just wait it out somewhere…_

It had started out as a light drizzle, the murky clouds barely letting go of their raindrops, so Ia hoped that she'd find her way back home before it got any worse. However, the weather wasn't in such a gracious mood and the rainfall steadily became heavier until it even started forcing people off the streets. By then, an hour had already passed and she was no closer to home than before, but soaked to the bone instead as the droplets sneakily worked their way into the fibers of her clothes.

She took a good look around the street, eyes passing from sign to sign. The one that caught her attention was in the shape of a bunny's head, with Usagi no Mimi painted on it in squiggly handwriting. _Oh, that place looks cute!_

She scurried over to it and was relieved to see an 'Open' sign hanging in the door's window. After a moment of hesitation, she opened the door and stepped inside.

A little bell chimed above her as she entered and was soon greeted with a cheerful "Welcome!" and a bright smile from the waitress standing at the cash register, the complete opposite of the dreadful weather outside.

"Ah, hello," she replied in a soft voice and a tiny smile of her own.

Her gaze quickly scanned the interior. It was a small coffee shop with a quaint ambiance to it. The walls were painted to look like a meadow, with many little rabbits hopping around in the grass. Square tables stood along the solid wall, while circular ones were scattered in the main area, differing in size and the number of chairs varied between two to five. There were only a few guests, peacefully enjoying their hot beverages.

Ia walked over to the counter to examine the blackboard on the wall behind it, listing the shop's menu. There was a variety of coffees and teas as well, with some cakes, cookies and pastries to go along with them. She skimmed through the list, in search of something familiar.

"Do you need help with anything?" the waitress asked, approaching her after a few minutes had passed.

"Oh, no, it's fine," Ia hastily blurted out her answer. _Wait, no, I need to order something,_ she soon realized. "Um, I mean, I'd like a hot cocoa, please. And, uh, five macarons."

The girl scribbled down her order onto a notepad. "Alright, take a seat anywhere you'd like and I'll bring it to you shortly."

Ia meekly nodded and turned around to find an empty spot for herself. She decided on a two-seat circular table by the full-size window spanning the entire wall beside the entrance, picking the seat that faced the counter. She put her bag on the back of her chair so she could take off her jacket, which she placed on the other chair's back, revealing a black top with long sleeves that bared her shoulders underneath it. Sitting down in a damp, pink pleated skirt was far from being a pleasant experience. She gathered her long, light pink hair to one side to minimize the floor space it was going to inevitably drip on.

All settled down, she directed her attention towards the waitress, who was preparing her drink on the opposite side of the counter. _Aww, how cute, her sweater has bunny ears on it. I wonder if that's part of the shop's uniform…_

Her light violet hair, styled into two ponytails at the side of her face, gently swayed as she went from cupboard to refrigerator to gather all the necessary ingredients. Her movements were unsure, as if she was afraid of breaking the equipment just by touching it. _Perhaps she's new on the job?_

Once it seemed like she was almost ready to bring out her order, Ia hurriedly took out her phone so the girl wouldn't notice that she was staring at her.

"Here you go, a hot cocoa and five macarons," the waitress announced, setting the plate and mug in front of her. "Also, I thought you could use these. It's raining pretty hard out there, huh?"

Ia looked up from her phone and casually slid it back into her bag. To her surprise, the girl had a couple of towels hanging on her arm which she was about to hand over to her.

"Ah, yes, thank you," she said, accepting them with a kind smile in hopes of conveying her gratitude. Her gaze traveled from the towels to the nameplate pinned to her apron. On it, 'Yukari' was written in squiggly handwriting, much like the shop's sign.

"Well, enjoy your drink. If you need anything else, I'll be at the counter. You can pay there when you're ready to leave. You can stay as long as you'd like, though!" Yukari explained, a light blush dusting her cheeks due to her almost-rude remark. She scrambled back to her spot at the register before Ia had a chance to say anything.

She took one of the towels and placed it on her seat and covered the top of her head with the other one. _That's much better. It was very thoughtful of her, she seems like a really nice person,_ she thought to herself_._

Wisps of steam rose from the mug of hot cocoa. Ia blew on it lightly a few times, spinning the dab of whipped cream in the middle. She raised it to her lips and took a slow slip.

_I've ascended to the heavens,_ she mused as the sweet, rich taste caressed her tongue and the warmth started spreading through her body. She enjoyed each mouthful of the drink at a leisurely pace to make it last longer.

When the mug was half empty already, she willed herself to take a break in order to taste the macarons. As she took the first bite, she cradled her cheek with her hand, the sugary delight overwhelming her taste buds. _This is _made _from the very essence of the heavens! _She had to ration the order of cocoa and macaron so that both would run out at about the same time.

_This hot cocoa is perfect. These macarons are perfect. This place is perfect! I can't believe how lucky I was to come right here, out of all the places I could've gone. _

Of course, Ia couldn't just sit around and fill herself with exquisite desserts. (Intently observing the adorable waitress was out of the question, too; even though her liveliness had a natural way of attracting people's gazes.) She didn't have that kind of free time and getting lost was already a huge setback for the day.

First of all, she used the towel on her head to dry herself off a bit more properly. She glanced out the window to check on the weather, but to her dismay, the rain showed no signs of letting up anytime soon.

Ia took her bag into her lap (the inside of which was protected with waterproof lining, keeping her belongings dry and sparing her from further misery) and pulled out a book on astronomy that she had recently bought. _It's been a while since I could read something for fun, with all the studying I have to do for university. _A contented sigh left her lips. It still had that fresh book scent emanating from it as she turned the pages.

A few hours passed and eventually it got too awkward for her to still be sitting there with just that one order. When she asked for a raspberry tea and more macarons, she could easily tell how delighted Yukari was to finally have something of importance to do, since no more guests had arrived after Ia came. From the corner of her eyes, she could see while reading that the girl had already washed all the cups, plates and utensils and had cleaned off the tables at least twice. As tedious as the chores must've been, she still completed her task with unrelenting enthusiasm. The notion had crossed her mind a couple of times to strike up a conversation with her, but she was completely lost as to how to go about it.

"Wow, is that a book about space?" Yukari wondered as she set Ia's order down on the table.

She nodded her head in reply, caught off guard by the sudden question. "Um, would you like to take a look? I mean, if you're not busy right now and have the time…" The words spilled out before she could really think her offer through.

"Yeah, that'd be cool!" she accepted immediately, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Rainy days are always so slow here. I always forget to bring something to read with me. I've been trying to convince the manager to set up a bookshelf that the guests could borrow from while they're here, but as you can see, that hasn't happened yet. Not gonna give up on it, though!"

In the middle of her tirade, Yukari pulled over a chair from the adjacent table, flipping it around so she could rest her arms on the back.

"Oh, that'd be nice," Ia agreed, in an effort to keep the conversation flowing. "Then, you've been working here for a while? If you can make suggestions like that to the manager, I mean."

"Well, yes and no," she began her reply, tilting her head from side to side. "Actually, the manager is my grandma, so I've always helped out with some stuff, though never with serving customers. Like when the whole place went under a little renovation a while ago, I gave a hand with the sign and painting the walls. But I've only started officially working as a part timer a few weeks ago, now that I'm finally in high school."

Ia was a bit shocked at that revelation, making her feel a bit awkward. _Well, she does look young, but hearing it like this… I guess it's a good thing I really did keep the staring, I mean observing, to a minimum. _

"What about you? I'm pretty sure I haven't seen you around before, so what brings you here?" Yukari was quick to fill the pause between them.

"Ah, well, I'm a little bit lost? I've never been to this part of the city before and I couldn't find my way home… Then it started raining harder and harder, so I ended up coming in here…" she explained with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "Oh, but I'm really glad I did!"

"Good, happy to hear that. Not about the getting lost part, of course. But I think we have a map in the office somewhere, since so many tourists kept dropping in, asking for directions. I can bring it out for you," she suggested. "So that means you just moved here or you just never needed to come 'round these parts?"

"Yeah, I moved since I got accepted to a university here. It's only been a few weeks for me, too, so I'm not at all familiar about where things are," Ia admitted sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.

"Wow, you're a university student already, that's awesome. But that simply won't do! I grew up here and there are so many amazing places nearby like you have no idea," she started out eagerly, then suddenly faltered as her implications caught up to her speeding train of thought. "I could, well, show you around to some of them, some time. If you'd like, I guess. I bet you're busy with classes and stuff. And gosh, I'm getting so ahead of myself; I haven't even really introduced myself, have I? I'm Yukari, but I guess you can see that on my nametag anyway."

"Thank you, Yukari. I'm Ia. And that'd be really nice, actually."


	2. Espresso

**Author's Note:** Here's chapter 2, with almost unprecedented speed from me. This thing just keeps getting longer… at first I just wanted it to be a songfic one-shot, then my mind went running with the backstory so I thought okay, two-shot it is. Then the storyline sort of took a detour along the way, so it's gonna be a three-shot. Adding an epilogue is a very unlikely, but still, possibility. (Pff, so much for telling myself to keep it short.) Also, just saying, I know basically nothing about coffee and was very lazy with research…

And a huge thank you to everyone who's read it so far!

* * *

The rainy spring days turned into humid summer days and the friendship grew between the two girls as they got to know each other better.

Ia had soon become a regular customer at Usagi no Mimi, and when summer vacation began, she started working as a part-timer, alongside Yukari. Whenever they had the time, Yukari showed her around the nice spots in the city. Eventually, they became inseparable, as if they'd been best friends for ages already, having sleepovers at Ia's apartment, whispering their secrets into the night.

All of a sudden, there was a distinct change in the atmosphere between them.

The telltale signs went unnoticed at first… Sometimes their hands brushed against each other's while they were preparing orders behind the counter, yet a fluid harmony kept them from completely bumping into each other and causing spills. The light touches became cosy hugs that occasionally lasted a second or two longer than usual. What had once been passing glances, lengthened into lingering gazes.

After an evening of movie-marathoning, they both fell asleep on the couch, instead of their usual set-up of Yukari taking her bed and Ia staying out on the couch. The following morning, Ia was the first to wake up, the younger girl still peacefully resting in her embrace even though the rising sun was casting its light over her face through the window's translucent curtains. She couldn't keep her eyes off of her: her violet hair glinting in the sunlight, her peach pink cheeks seeming so soft, the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest with her breathing, the hints of her usual bright smile on her lips… it was a beautifully serene view to behold.

Ignoring the thoughts that she didn't want to be thinking of so early in the morning, Ia concentrated on etching every detail of the scene into her memory. Yukari began to stir from her dreams a short while later. Her eyes fluttered open, locking straight onto her friend's. Neither dared to move for several seconds that seemed to stretch into minutes, until a truck drove by outside and the loud noise shattered the moment. Ia pulled her arms away and Yukari bolted off the couch.

"I'm sorry, I just– I didn't– I wasn't– it's not– I don't know," she kept tripping over her words tumbling out of her mouth, trying to form an excuse. She kept shifting her weight from foot to foot and making all sorts of hand gestures, her cheeks turning crimson within moments. "I guess I should… just… _go_… now. Yeah. Sorry. Really."

With that, she picked up her bag from beside the couch and headed straight towards the door without saying another word, nor looking back. Ia just sat there, motionless and completely dumbfounded.

"What just happened?" she murmured the question to the empty apartment, her voice tiny and frightened.

_Why was she so upset? Did I do something wrong? Why did she feel the need to apologize? Do _I_ need to apologize for something? Is she going to be okay? Are we going to be okay? _The unanswerable questions zipped through her mind, making her feel worse by the second, like a void consuming her from within. _I don't want to lose my friend…_

Following that incident, things got really awkward. They both tried pretending like nothing even happened, but they started keeping a certain distance from each other, like they both had an impenetrable bubble around them, though there was no way they could entirely avoid each other, so they kept hanging out like before.

The situation stagnated like that for weeks to follow. Never getting too close, nor straying too far from one another.

After a while, Ia became frustrated. She wasn't the type to be easily swept away with strong emotions, but this was a rare exception. Yukari was too important; she had too much to lose if things wouldn't budge one way or the other.

_If you've accidentally added salt instead of sugar to a drink, you just have to pour it out and start again_, the epiphany struck her at work one afternoon. _If we can't go back to being as close as we used to be, perhaps we need to stay away from each other for a while._

She didn't say a word about her idea to Yukari. Instead, she dropped some of her shifts and made excuses as to why she couldn't come to Usagi no Mimi that often anymore. She made sure to steer clear of the places they regularly visited together.

However, Ia ran out of places to go in all the free time she had suddenly regained. She spent the first week entirely at home, going no farther than the grocery store when the empty refrigerator and cupboard so demanded it. She wasn't safe in her own apartment, though: everywhere she looked, there was a memory of Yukari, reminding her of time spent together.

Out of desperation, she ventured out into the city again; equipped with a map this time, having learnt from her past experience. Since the university's buildings were closed for the summer, she went for the next best thing: the big city library. Rather than borrowing a huge stack of books that would've been a pain to lug home then back again, she opted to spend most of the day there, in one of the several reading rooms.

Her day-long escapades required finding a nearby source of food and drinks. Luckily, there was a small lounge on the corridor leading to the restrooms, which had a couple of vending machines, a microwave and a few tables to use, so her problem was more or less solved.

In the beginning, she stubbornly refused to buy anything from the coffee machine that also served several variants of hot cocoa and tea. Her resolve wavered on a particularly dreary day, where she could barely keep her eyes open to read, yet had no intention of going back home after coming all the way out to the library. Instead, she opted to charge herself up with some caffeine.

She stood in front of the machine and started reading the list of drinks available. By now, she had at least learnt, if not mastered, the preparation methods for most common types of coffee, so she knew exactly what each one was. She ended up choosing 'espresso' on a sudden whim.

"_Okay, but how is it possible to be a university student and not be chugging coffee by the pot? Isn't that what it's all about, pulling all-nighters over essays and replacing blood with caffeine in your veins?" Yukari asked, her voice sounding like this was the biggest crisis in the world and her expression looking utterly scandalised._

_She was in the middle of teaching Ia how to make a café latte, as a part of their afterhours lesson to prepare her for working part-time. _

"_I don't know, I just… never needed to?" she hesitantly replied. "Plus, why would I add lots of sugar to something bitter to make it taste bearable when I could just drink something sweet?"_

"_A girl who doesn't drink coffee, who hasn't even tasted coffee, working in a coffee shop… I guess there's a certain irony to enjoy in that," she remarked, wisely nodding her head. "But I just can't let this go on. So you're going to taste some coffee right here, right now."_

_The determined tone in Yukari's voice kept Ia from objecting. Within minutes, the girl handed her a cup._

"_What's this?"_

"_Drink it first, ask questions later."_

_She did as she was told, slowly raising it to her mouth. As she took the first sip, the bitterness scalded her tongue. It took immense amount self-control for her to swallow it instead of spitting it out. Nevertheless, she couldn't keep herself from scrunching her nose up in disgust. Yukari burst out in laughter._

"_Wow, you should see your face!" she finally managed to say after the laughs subsided. "Maybe starting you off with an espresso was a bit too strong, even though I added some sugar into it."_

_Yukari took the cup from her and drank the rest of it. When she was finished, she let out a heavy sigh and turned to look out the window._

"_There's just something really special about waking up at dawn, and your eyes are still bleary with sleep, and you make yourself a coffee, and then you drink it, and it tastes like life itself, and you're awake. You are so awake."_

A melancholy air took over the girl as she recalled the memory. The view was still so vivid in her mind, that indescribable look on Yukari's face as she spoke. She took the plastic cup from the machine and glared into the depths of the dark liquid, regretting her choices.

Taking a deep breath in and out, she finally decided to try it. The machine-made espresso's quality paled so much in comparison to Yukari's, that it was basically transparent.

_I have never tasted anything so bitter in my life. _

'_It tastes like life itself,' huh? _

…_Yes, this is exactly how bitter my life is right now. _

_And I need her to sweeten it up for me._


	3. Café Latte

**Author's Note:** I wanted to finish this chapter by last week but then /things happened/. Anyways yeah, this is the part of the story I actually wanted to write but ended up putting a coffeeshop AU behind it and 2 chapters of exposition preceding it. So, yup, it relies very heavily on the song's lyrics. (haha omg I can't even tell if it turned out fluffy or too cheesy or too sappy or too ? because of that)

(Hint: If anyone's interested, the translated lyrics for Café Latte are up on tumblr. It's probably the easiest to look in the song code's tag, sm16801489)

A huge-huge-huge thank you to everyone's who read my story so far and I really-really appreciate the comments I've been getting (OTL I'm just terrible at replying to things sometimes), so I hope you all enjoy the ending!

(And don't hold your breaths for an epilogue. it is more likely than not that there won't be one, but I don't wanna say never either, so I'm marking the story complete for now.)

* * *

Later that same day, Ia received a text from Yukari, asking the girl to meet her at the small park in the same neighbourhood as Usagi no Mimi the following day.

She was in the middle of putting away some dishes when her cell phone had chirped with the incoming message. She read the message over and over again, hoping to find the words hidden between the lines. Without even noticing her own actions, she had sunk to the floor, staring into the emptiness.

"What should I do?" she whimpered, anxiously threading her fingers through her hair.

_On one hand, this could be a good sign. She has to have noticed by now that I've been avoiding her. Maybe she misses me. It's possible that she's completely forgotten what happened that morning by now and wants to go back to the way things were before. _

_On the other hand, this could be a bad sign. Maybe she's mad at me for avoiding her. It's possible that after what happened that morning, this was the last straw and she's going to tell me that she never wants to see me again. _

_Okay, no matter the reason, I have to go see her tomorrow if I want to find out for sure. We need to settle… whatever this is between us. For better or for worse, because not knowing hurts the most. _

Ia opted for retiring to bed early that evening, to be well-rested for whatever may come, yet the tiny clamours of the night kept her from drifting to sleep for much too long. After a few hours of tossing and turning from her twisted dreams –the details dispersing as soon as she opened her eyes but the unease still clawing at her mind– she was wide awake just before dawn.

Since Yukari had set the time of their meeting to be in the early afternoon, she spent the whole morning in a daze, unable to fully concentrate on anything she did. When it was time for her to leave, she was halfway down the stairs by the time she realized that she had forgotten to put on her shoes.

In the end, she arrived on time at the entrance of the park that the two girls often strolled through. Yukari was already there, sitting on a bench with her eyes closed and her head tilted up to bathe in the sunlight.

It was near the end of August, the sun shone down on the city with a fierce intensity and only a few puffy clouds were splattered across the light blue sky. The park was like a rainbow, a wide spectrum of colourful flowers dotting the vibrant green grass, the trees providing some shade from the harsh rays of the sun. A cool breeze blew, keeping the temperature bearable. Amidst the nature so full of life, Yukari was a dazzling sight to look at in her light purple one-piece dress and the sunshine glimmering on her violet hair, as if she was a mirage that would disappear once you got closer.

As soon as Ia had spotted her –and it's always the same features that catch her eye–, she came to a sudden halt as her breath was taken away. Upon hearing the skid of her shoes, the resting girl stirred and turned to look in the direction of the noise.

Yukari jumped up from the bench and hurried over to her friend with a wide grin. She began to raise her arms, preparing to give her a big hug, until she suddenly jerked them back when she noticed that Ia wasn't mirroring her movements. She stopped a short distance away from her and cautiously waved at her instead as she spoke. "Hey."

"Ah, hi," Ia greeted her, feeling very nervous all of a sudden but still forcing a smile onto her lips. "Did I make you wait?"

"Nah, not really," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. "Well then, let's get going! I want to take you to a special place."

She lacked the courage to ask more details about their destination, so she just nodded in reply. Yukari started walking ahead with brisk steps. Ia matched her pace but lagged a bit behind her.

_No, this is stupid! Why am I acting so awkward around someone's who supposed to be my best friend? She doesn't seem to be upset so I should just… go back to being normal, _she scolded herself mentally. With a new sense of confidence, she took a few strides to walk right beside Yukari. She took a quick glance at her but she showed no signs of surprise.

They walked along the familiar streets in complete silence, one that wasn't quite uncomfortable, yet didn't feel very comforting either. There was an almost tangible barrier between them, where their personal bubbles rubbed against each other.

"Here we are," Yukari announced proudly, stopping in front of Usagi no Mimi's entrance. She held the door open and motioned for Ia to go in first with a sweep of her hand.

_I guess it _is _a special place for us, _she noted to herself as she stepped inside and said a soft thank you. It was a nice day for business at the café (especially since they had air conditioning installed) but there were still quite a few empty tables for the girls to choose from. They ambled over to the counter to order their drinks. The waitress that afternoon was Lily, who had been hired at the start of the summer, around the same time as Ia.

"Hi girls!" she welcomed them cheerfully. "How come you're back again so soon, Yukari? And wow, it's been a while since you came to just visit, Ia."

"Yeah yeah, nice to see to you, too," Yukari casually dismissed her remarks, while Ia was too embarrassed to reply anything. "Hit me up with a café latte."

Ia took a few more moments to skim the list of drinks available. _Hmm, which one should I pick? Usually I'd go for a hot cocoa, but I feel like… I've grown out of that now. I'll try ordering something else. An espresso is a bit too bitter... Oh, I know, I'll pick that!_

"A café latte for me, too, please," Ia told Lily. As soon as she did, she looked at Yukari from the corner of her eye to check her reaction. _I wonder if she remembers… _An air of puzzlement passed across her friend's face for only a mere moment.

"Alright, take a seat and I'll have them ready for you two real soon," Lily prompted them, already getting to work on preparing their drinks.

The girls headed to their favourite spot, a 4-person table by the window. Yukari took the seat on the corridor side, while Ia sat down diagonally across from her. The odd silence from their walk settled in between them again as they both pointedly looked in completely different directions.

_I want to talk to her. I want to ask her why things got weird after that morning. I want to tell her so many things! But I don't want to hear her replies if I say the wrong thing. I don't want to tell her things if they'll scare her away from me, _she waged an internal war with her complicated heart.

She glanced out the window. On such a lovely day, the street was filled with couples going out on dates. An unpleasant feeling began to form in her guts, seeing them chattering away so happily and holding hands. _Right now we can't even really meet each others' eyes, even though she's been on my mind so much. I know we aren't like that, we can't be like that, but still, I think I'm… a little jealous? _

At that moment, Lily arrived with their coffees, thus breaking Ia out of her thoughts. She stared down at her café latte: the foam floating on top seemed so soft and fluffy. _Just like her._ Her skin tingled with the phantom memory of holding the girl in her arms. She raised the cup to her mouth and took a few careful sips of the hot drink. The sweet, yet bitter flavour danced around on her taste buds.

She set her cup down on the saucer and looked straight at Yukari who had just tasted hers as well. The smile that graced her face was so sparkly and shining, as bright as the sun in the sky above. Ia's conflicting emotions melted into one upon seeing such an adorable expression.

"I missed this," Yukari blurted out unexpectedly, her cheeks turning rosy. "Sitting here and being with you."

"Me, too," Ia added without missing a beat. "I'm… sorry that I wasn't around so much lately…"

"It's…! Okay…! I know that it was, well, kinda my fault, because you know, with the, that…" she accompanied her choppy words with choppy hand gestures. "I realize now that I totally overreacted over pretty much nothing."

"No-no-no, you overreacted for a reason and that reason was me being stupid and letting us fall asleep like that," the words she couldn't find earlier suddenly tumbling out her mouth. "Please don't blame yourself because it's really not your fault. It's entirely mine."

"But I don't want to blame you either? I mean okay, what happened, happened, and that's that, but afterwards, it was silly to let it get awkward between us. Friends fall asleep on each other all the time, right?" she raised her eyebrows with uncertainty. "No big deal. None whatsoever. Nope. I shouldn't have chased you away with it."

"_You_ chased _me_ away? You practically took off at the speed of light because _I_ made _you_ feel uncomfortable," she retorted, the hurt and regret seeping through her voice.

Both of them fell silent and they looked directly at each other, trying to figure out the emotions behind their expressions.

"I'm sorry, I didn't ask you to come here so that we could argue," Yukari was the first to speak up yet again. "The opposite, actually. So after we finish up here, do you still have time to go on a walk with me?"

"Yeah, of course," Ia agreed in an instant with an encouraging smile. _This really isn't the right place to discuss something like this anyways…_

Afterwards, they made light conversation as they emptied their coffee cups. For a while, it seemed like they slipped back in time, to the early days of their friendship. They even bought some macarons for the memories.

The girls eventually finished up their drinks and set out on their walk. By then, the sun had crossed the sky and was nearing the horizon, its rays tinting the buildings with an orange glow and tickling pink the bottom of the cumulating clouds.

Yukari took on the role of leading the way once more (though they walked side by side this time), heading back towards the park. Several winding paths lead through it and they knew each of them down to the last crack on every cobblestone. The main path was filled with people, so they purposely chose to wander down a deserted one.

As soon as they were all on their own, Yukari entwined her fingers with Ia's and gave her a comforting squeeze. The sudden contact caught her off guard, her feet instantly rooting into the ground. Yukari stepped in front of her and held onto her other hand as well. She was at a complete loss as to how to react to such an unexpected development.

"Okay, shhh, just listen to me," she began to explain after taking a deep breath, looking straight into her friend's eyes.

Ia nodded, keeping their gazes linked. There was so much honesty and innocence radiating from those lilac eyes and there was no way she could avert her own from it.

"I'm still in high school and you're not anymore. I'm still a kid and you're not anymore. Realizing it that morning had scared me a little. But now the thought of losing you terrifies me even more." For every word spoken, she had left several more unsaid, veiled behind it.

"Honestly, it never bothered me because friends are friends and everything else just, doesn't matter, at all. What matters is that my happiest days are the ones that I got to spend with you." Her solemn expression gradually transformed into her usual bright smile. It was so contagious that the corners of Ia's mouth turned up without her noticing.

"I want there to be many more ahead of us, too. And uhhh, well… Not just– like it'd be okay if maybe even…! Oh gosh, I can't– I can't say it, not yet," her speech fell to pieces in a blink as she became too flustered to continue. Yukari let go of her hands and buried her face in them instead. She twirled around, leaving Ia staring at her back.

All along, Ia felt amazed by how maturely she spoke to her but she had no idea what to say in kind, yet she had to react somehow. _I want to be there for her. I want her to be happy. I want to be the one to make her happy. _Very carefully, she put her hand on Yukari's shoulder. At that, she turned around and latched onto her like a koala. After a moment of hesitation, she loosely wrapped her arms around her and gently caressed her back.

"It's been me blabbering this whole time, but, I know, I can tell, and it's fine because it's in the little things that I notice you do, and, that's enough. So until I'm ready for you to hear me say it…" she left the end of her jumbled sentence hanging as she extracted herself from the embrace so that she could she look into her azure eyes.

"Wait for me. Wait with me. Please?"

Yukari stood on the tip of her toes to softly press her lips to Ia's. The sweet kiss only lasted for a second. She had no time to panic, since it was already over before she had noticed it happening, leaving behind a tingling sensation.

"Of course. I'd be happy to," she breathed out her answer, those few words carrying the weight all her secret feelings as she pulled Yukari into a tight hug.

_Then, one day, surely, the two of us will forever…_


	4. Soshite, Itsuka, Kitto, Futari wa zutto

**Author's Note:** Surprise-surprise, I couldn't leave this story without a 100% cheesy-fluffy ending, albeit a very short one. Now that I'm finally on summer vacation, I'll try writing new chapters for TBoY and maybe even Sharing Beds because wow, it'll be 3 years old soon yet people are still reading it?

Also, I've changed the wording around at the end of chapter 3 but it's still essentially the same. Anyways yeah, I hope you all will be satisfied with the epilogue!

* * *

True to her word, Ia waited with Yukari.

She waited through the days and nights, weeks and months, seasons and years.

She waited while they spent time apart and while they spent time together.

She waited, holding her hand when no one could see them, walking in the secluded parts of the park.

She waited, letting her snuggle up to her during their sleepovers, sharing the blankets and pillows on her bed.

She waited, cooking her chicken soup when she got sick and brewing a pot of her favourite tea, making sure that she doesn't run out of tissues.

She waited, sending her good morning and good night texts when they were too busy to meet because of their tests and exams.

She waited, taking her to movies and to the beach and to the mountains, filling her youthful days with fun memories.

She waited, listening to her ramble on about sights she wants see, sounds she wants to hear, scents she wants to smell, flavours she wants to taste, things she wants to do as they grow old together, because it never occurs to her that they won't be by each other's side.

Ia waited, until Yukari was ready.

* * *

"We should go see the cherry blossoms in the park," Yukari suggested on a sunny day at the start of April as they were finishing up on their afternoon shift.

"That sounds like a nice idea. We could take some of the leftover pastries and have a little picnic," Ia added to the plan.

"Okay, that's all settled then! I'll go and get them," she said, walking over to the pastry display.

They quickly packed together, borrowing the picnic basket from the manager's office that they used for their occasional staff picnics. Done with the closing preparations, they headed to the park. Ia carried the basket while Yukari strolled beside her. They've barely walked a few steps when the younger girl grabbed her free hand, lacing their fingers together.

Ia sneaked a glance at her as she tried to keep the puzzlement from appearing on her expression. _Well, that's new. We've gotten more affectionate with each other over time, but she usually waits for us to be alone before holding my hand. _Yukari kept looking straight ahead, seemingly nonchalant about her action like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Neither of them spoke a word on their way to the park, but the silence didn't become uncomfortable. Although it was an unusual occurrence, Ia's thoughts weren't in chaos. Quite the opposite: the feel of the hand in hers kept her calm and cleared her mind.

Their feet automatically took them to their favourite spot in the park, a small hill where people rarely wandered. Everything was covered in pink petals, more twirling to the ground with each passing breeze. They took out the blanket and laid down side by side on it, the slope of the hill giving them a spectacular view of the trees and the sky dotted with clouds, the sunset lining them with orange.

As soon as they were settled, Yukari slipped her hand into Ia's again. The older girl turned her head to look at her. She had a wide grin on her face and it made her smile, too.

"I'm so happy that you're with me," Yukari finally spoke, squeezing her hand.

She squeezed back in confirmation. "Me, too."

"That rainy day you first came to Usagi no Mimi seems so far away but I still remember it like yesterday, even though it was almost three years ago," she said wistfully. "If you hadn't come in that day, we wouldn't even be here right now."

"Yeah, maybe. So I'm glad I did," Ia admitted. _What's with the sudden nostalgia? This is starting to get suspicious..._

Yukari sat up and leaned over her, their gazes connecting. Her expression was brimming with emotion as she whispered to her. "Thank you for waiting for me. Waiting with me."

She bent down and pressed her lips to Ia's. She kissed her back slowly and gently, wanting to etch the sensation of their mouths meeting into her memory. She cautiously raised a hand to caress her cheek, reveling in the softness of her skin. In response, Yukari placed her hand on her waist. They savoured the simple kiss for as long as they could, until they had to break apart for air.

Both of them beamed with pure joy, their huffed breaths intermingling. Ia pulled her down into an embrace and rolled them on their sides so that they were face to face. She could feel both of their heartbeats pounding. A strong gust of wind blew, scattering cherry blossoms around them.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."


End file.
